Hi Courtney,

I am not sure what you mean when you say you are using a thermometer and "according to it the watering is just right". Since thermometers measure air temperature, I am going to assume you mean that you are using a moisture meter? If so, put that thing away (some moisture meters are more or less accurate, but others are not), and stick your finger in the soil and see if it is moist. If it is, then your plants are fine right now. If the soil is dry to the touch, that's a bad sign. I think it is more likely your plants have transplant shock which is somewhat common when plants are transplanted in very hot weather. If the soil is not moist, the plants need to be watered. It is better to water deeply once or twice a week instead of watering lightly every day. If you water lightly every day, the surface gets wet but often the ground and roots below do not get enough moisture. Plants also drop leaves if they are too wet, so make sure they are not sitting in very wet, soggy ground.

You haven't told us enough about how you planted the plants. For example, in what type of soil? Clay? Sandy loam? Pure sand? Does it drain well? Does it drain too well? Does it not drain well at all and maybe it has standing water a lot of the time?

Was the soil improved with the addition of compost, composted manure, humus or pine bark fines before you planted into it? Did you mulch the ground around the plants after you planted them? Unmulched ground can REALLY heat up and hit temperatures of 115-130 and higher in the kind of weather we're having now. That kind of heat is hard on plant roots.

Did you feed the plants anything? And, if you did and you did not follow the fertilizer directions exactly, you may have overfed the plants and caused fertilizer burn

You said you planted two weeks ago, so let's chalk that up to beginner's bad luck. In the future, it would be better to plant cold-hardy plants during the cool season....from about October through March or early April. Planting at that time will give you plants time to adjust to being transplanted and time to make some root growth before the hot weather arrives. The later in the hot season you transplant new plants into the landscape, the more likely you are to have transplant shock and other issues with them.

Plants that were healthy when planted and that have been properly watered since then really shouldn't be showing the symptoms you described such a short time after being transplanted unless they were allowed to get too dry at some point (either shortly before you bought the plants or sometime since then). And, I am assuming you brought the plants home INSIDE a vehicle. If by chance, they were in the bed of a pickup truck, or even in the back seat of a car with the windows rolled down, then the plants could have suffered from windburn while being transported home.

Thyme needs well-drained soil and although it doesn't need real frequent watering once it is well-established, it can go into shock quite easily when transplanted. Even though it is browning, keep it watered and moist but not soggy. If it is suffering from transplant shock, it may recover. The same is true of the barberries.

Remember that plants on the west and south sides of homes can suffer greatly from the heat and light that reflect off buildings, sidewalks, streets, etc. and they will require a lot more care and attention the first couple of years than plants on the cooler east and north sides of homes.

Also, are you sure no one around you has used a herbicide that could have drifted onto your plants? Are you sure y'all haven't used a "weed and feed" product near these new plants?

Even if the plants are dying....and we don't yet know if they are dying or just suffering from something else like transplant shock, heat stress, wind burn or fertilizer burn....do not let it discourage you. Every gardener has killed plants, unintentionally of course, and that is just part of the learning curve.

Good luck,

Dawn

Wow! This information is very helpful. First, I'm sorry I do have a moisture thermometer which I'm retiring now. I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but what does it mean to water deeply? Is it best to measure in time, ten minutes, etc?

Before I planted everything I dug out about 2 feet of clay and replaced it with garden soil (cheap stuff from Lowe's) then put top soil on top of that and finely about 2 inches of mulch. That is it, should I add something or maybe wait until Fall to do so.

I very well could have over fed, I used miracle grow after I planted them.

How do I know if the soil is well drained?

Sorry for all the questions, thank you for your help!

Courtney,

First, there are no stupid questions.

Secondly, watering deeply means watering the ground long enough that it gets wet about 6" down. That puts water down deeply in the ground so the roots can use it. If you keep watering the top inch of soil and nothing else, your roots come up to the surface to get the water and then those surface roots dry out quickly. You can't measure it by time because different soils absorb water at different rates. Water slowly with a hose running at a low rate or with a soaker hose so the water can soak in and not run off. Dig down with a trowel about six inches every so often (maybe once every half-hour or hour) and see how long it takes your soil in that location to get nice and moist, but not sopping wet six inches down. Then you'll have an approximate idea of how long it takes to water deeply in that specific bed.

Cheap bagged garden soil is often mostly black clay (sorry, but it is true). To figure out what you current soil is composed of, you can do one of two tests. First, take a handful of wet soil and squeeze it tightly with your hand. Then, open up your palm and look at it. If the soil remains in a tight clump after you open up your palm, it is too clay-ey and thick and you need to add organic material (compost, composted manure, humus or pine bark fines) to lighten it up. If the soil clump falls apart when you unclench your fist, it is a nice mix of clay, humus, etc. and should be well-drained Or, you can do the jar test in the magazine article linked below. I love the jar test. It is so easy to do and you can quickly learn a lot about your soil by doing it.

If your soil needs more organic matter added to it, wait until fall and gently work some into the soil, taking care not to disturb your plants' roots. Or, if the plants you have do die (and I really hope they don't), just add organic matter to the soil before you replace them. You don't have to remove any of the current soil, just add organic matter to it and it will turn into great soil if it currently isn't great.

Although we do not tend to think of it this way, fertilizing can be stressful for plants. Why? It can push them to grow at a time when they are not ready to grow, and that is especially true of plants set out in hot weather. The nitrogen in chemical-based fertilizers can push plants to put out topgrowth that their roots cannot support. I tend to go with organic fertilizers that are lower in nitrogen, like compost tea, liquid fish emulsion or liquid seaweed because they are gentle and you have to try hard to overfeed with them. Having said that, I don't think one feeding of MG applied at the proper rate would cause the symptoms you're seeing. However, if you overfed by mixing the MG at a higher rate or by giving the plants too much of it, that could be a problem. (I read the other day that the MG package recommends 1/2 cup of water w/MG added for the first feeding and then a gradual increase after that, but I haven't read the label myself to see if that's true.)

Well-drained soil allows water to percolate down through the soil easily. Well-drained soil allows oxygen to reach plant roots. Well-drained soil generally will not have water ponding heavily on top of it or running off of it. Clay soil is very heavy and you'll see water ponding or puddling on top of it, or running off of it instead of soaking down into it. Sandy soil or silty soil often drains very quickly and can be dry (even deep down) within hours of receiving rainfall or substantial irrigation Well drained soil tends to be sandy loam, or heavily improved clay or sand that drains "just right". The water permeates the surface and soaks in and the soil is "just right"......not too dry and not too wet. Do you remember the potting mix that was in the pots your plants came in? That was probably a well-drained soil-less mix. You want something similar in the ground, although the in-ground stuff won't drain quite as well as the soil-less stuff in the pots.

Ask all the questions you want. How else are you going to learn????

Dawn

For drainage, dig a small hole - about four to six inches deep and as wide. Pour water in it until it is full. Now check your watch and time how long it takes the water to drain into the soil and disappear. If it takes less than a few minutes, then your soil is sandy and drains too fast for most plants to uptake water. If it doesn't drain over the course of hours (like mine! My son dug a shallow "pond" in the back yard and until it heated up, that sucker would stay full for a day or two each time he filled it with a hose)... so anyway if the water doesn't drain away within a couple hours then your drainage is very poor. Plants won't get any water because it won't filter through the soil.

In each case, the answer is to amend the soil heavily. If you have too much drainage (too fast), then amend most heavily where you're putting the plants. If you have poor drainage (too slow to drain), then amend all over - not just where you're putting the plants. Amend with organic material like hay, straw, manure, compost, dead plants, wood chips, grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc.

Water deeply... I'm not sure how to describe. If I walk by the plant with a spray flowing and wet the surface of the ground, then walk on, then that's way too shallow. You have to water long enough for the water to get down several inches into the ground. For sandy soil with fast drainage, it runs through the soil right away. I had that in Minnesota and fixed it through continual amendment with organic material to the soil. For clay soil with slow drainage, you either have to water it a really, really long time and water very slowly so it doesn't just flow off, or you have to amend it very heavily with organic material.

Two inches of mulch is good. What kind of mulch are you using?

Another issue is how root bound were your plants? I bought a pair of daisies from In the Sun, at half price as they were closing up one of their satellite locations. They were horribly, horribly root bound which was such a disappointment after I'd bought some really nice mints from them a couple months ago. I planted them in good soil and have watered faithfully, but they've wilted terribly and leaves have browned and in my opinion they're complaining bitterly about their lot in life. So even if you treat plants well, they might not be suited to being planted.

My experience is that good gardening is a long process of building the soil. Once you have the soil, you can grow just about anything that's hardy. Until you get it, you (and your plants) will struggle.

You can't go wrong with adding more mulch. It will help build your soil as it decays. What kind are you using?

Courtney: I kill things every year :) My theory is to grow so many things nobody will notice what I kill! It works pretty well. :)

Just a couple of weeks ago I killed two milkweeds...that made me mad because I bought them at TLC, so they were $$. ugh. I didn't keep them watered in well until they established themselves. Part of the secret for me is, no more transplanting until fall. The plants require too much pampering at this time of the year.

Ask away, we'll be happy to answer what we can. I hang out on the other forums too, I have learned so much from the specific forums (antique roses, daylilies, hostas....and amazingly all those things started showing up in my yard!) So, word to the wise, if you don't wish to start collecting something, stay away from the forum!

Lisa

Wait, you *bought* milkweeds?!? I didn't know they sold that. I have some out here in the field that managed to survive being tilled under three times. They seem quite happy, though they're a bit lonely. I haven't bothered to pull them up. Figured some passing monarch might want food and there aren't enough of them to threaten my melons.

I don't know why I'm surprised someone sells milkweed. After all, they sell creeping charlie!

Thanks for the great advice, this forum is awesome!

Thank you to everyone! You are all so helpful. I'm going to do the soil test tomorrow. To answer gamebird we purchased a cheap cypress mulch from Lowe's, which I was given a very bad look when I told the people at TLC. I was told the best kind is pecan mulch. Thanks again!